Emergence of correlated proton tunnelling in water ice.

ABSTRACT: Several experimental and theoretical studies report instances of concerted or correlated multiple proton tunnelling in solid phases of water. Here, we construct a pseudo-spin model for the quantum motion of protons in a hexameric H₂O ring and extend it to open system dynamics that takes environmental effects into account in the form of O-H stretch vibrations. We approach the problem of correlations in tunnelling using quantum information theory in a departure from previous studies. Our formalism enables us to quantify the coherent proton mobility around the hexagonal ring by one of the principal measures of coherence, the l ₁ norm of coherence. The nature of the pairwise pseudo-spin correlations underlying the overall mobility is further investigated within thi

SUBMITTER: Pusuluk O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6545048 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature